


Two-Card Spread

by futuresoon



Series: Loosely connected stories about Sho Minazuki [5]
Category: Persona 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 00:34:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4808126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/futuresoon/pseuds/futuresoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are rumors of a quiet young man with a scar on his face. Souji's always liked a challenge. (The Sho Minazuki Social Link that never happened.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two-Card Spread

**Author's Note:**

> Can be read on its own, but references [Estimated Recovery Time](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3786757).

Daidara doesn’t get a whole lot of other customers, from what Souji can tell. How he stays in business is a mystery. Maybe someone owes him something? So it’s a surprise when Souji enters the store to find someone else already there.

“Sorry for bothering you, I was just curious,” the woman says, holding onto a decorative dagger like she thinks it might explode. Clearly an apology purchase. She bows her head and leaves, glancing only briefly at Souji.

He’s seen her around town. One of those gossiping housewives. He wonders what she was there for.

“Souji-kun!” Daidara exclaims, brightening when he sees him. “Here for my artwork, I hope? And _not_ to ask me strange questions?”

Souji nods. He’s still not used to it, this need for weapons and armor, but according to Teddie there’s a good bit of Kanji’s dungeon left, and their equipment could use an upgrade. He can’t help being curious, though, so as he picks through the rack of swords, he asks, “If it’s not a bother, what kind of questions was she asking?”

Daidara lets out a sigh not unlike the bellows in the back of the shop. “If I have a son,” he says wearily. “Apparently there’s some young stranger in town who bears superficial resemblance to me. I tell them over and over, I have no such children, but it seems like they never listen.”

“Oh?” Souji examines a katana with a black sheen to it, made with pieces of a Hablerie. “I haven’t seen anyone like that.”

“Neither have I,” Daidara says, shaking his head. “If you do see him, could you tell him I apologize--I’m sure they’re bothering him about it too.”

Souji nods. “Of course,” he says. “What does he look like?”

“About your age and build, apparently, with red hair and a scar on his face, like mine,” Daidara says, gesturing towards the large X across his face. “Surely if I had a son I’d do my best to _prevent_ him from being so scarred, yes?”

Souji has to agree with that. “I’ll keep an eye out for him,” he says. He won’t be hard to miss, if he looks like that.

Souji does wonder, though--what are the odds of there being _two_ people like that in Inaba?

\---

He gets his wish a few days later, after Kanji is finally safe, when he happens to see the stranger in a Junes checkout line. He’s there to pick up tonight’s groceries, so his bag isn’t very large, but the stranger is either preparing for a party or getting a few weeks’ worth of food at once. Judging by the way he’s keeping his head down and avoiding eye contact from under a dark green hooded sweatshirt, probably not the former.

It’s almost hard to see his face. Souji probably would have missed it, if he didn’t happen to turn around to leave right before the stranger did. He only gets a brief glimpse of it before the stranger turns away, but there it is--red hair, big scar. Fairly well-hidden ensconced in the hood, but hard to hide completely without a mask. The stranger grabs his bags and heads for the door. Souji hurries to catch up.

“Sorry to bother you,” Souji says, stepping to the stranger’s side, “but I promised someone I’d apologize to you if I saw you--do you know Daidara, from the weapons shop?”

The stranger shakes his head and walks faster. Souji keeps up. “He says people have been bothering him about if he has a son who looks like him, so he wanted to apologize, since he figured that person is probably being bothered about it too,” he says. “And you look like you’re probably that person. Daidara doesn’t leave his shop a lot, so he might not be able to do it himself. So--sorry. And sorry from me too, if I’m bothering you.”

The stranger still doesn’t reply, and keeps walking, but eventually says, “Apology accepted,” in a low voice. 

They happen to be going the same way, so Souji continues to walk next to him. “If it’s not too much to ask, what’s your name?” Souji asks. He likes knowing people’s names; he likes knowing people, period.

“Sho,” the stranger says, in that same low voice. He doesn’t offer anything else.

“I’m Souji Seta,” Souji says, and holds out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Sho.”

Sho glances over at him, and Souji gets another glimpse of that scar, emblazoned across his face like a warning sign. He doesn’t take his hand.

Eventually, Souji withdraws and says, “Well, I’ll let you get back to whatever you’re doing.” He walks a little slower, to let Sho pass him by. Which Sho does, without another word.

Souji stares after him. There’s a mystery there, he decides. If he ever sees him again, he’ll try to talk to him a little more, maybe. If Sho doesn’t shut it down like tonight.

Suddenly, a familiar burst of energy within him rises up. From deep in his heart, he hears, _Thou art I…and I am thou…_

He’s had several of those so far, but mostly classmates; people he sees frequently, at any rate. So maybe he _will_ be seeing him again? It’s a nice thought.

There’s something odd, though, about this.

Previously, inside his mind he’s seen a card facing backwards, flipping to reveal its face to him. That happens here, too--

\--but there are _two_ cards.

Sun and Moon. Right next to each other, barely a hair’s width apart. 

_Thou hast established new bonds…they bring thee closer to the truth…thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Sun and Moon Arcana…_

When the voice and the energy fade away, Souji is left standing and blinking in the street, unable to process it. What does it signify? How can one person have two meanings? Maybe it’s Daidara, too. But no, he’s seen Daidara several times already; he’s never felt anything particularly noteworthy there. 

Still, it doesn’t seem harmful. Just odd.

Well! If he can do two Social Links at once, he’ll have more time to feed the cats.

Souji starts walking back home, confused but overall happy, which isn’t a bad result.

\---

There are so many things Souji needs to juggle, in Inaba. The investigation, school, family, running errands for people around town; he even decided not to join a culture club, just so he’d have more time to work on it all. He’s not complaining, not by far; he likes the challenge of planning out his schedule. It helps that most everyone else seems to have their own schedules--he just has to remember which days are good for which people, and he’s set.

He hasn’t figured out Sho’s schedule yet, though, so he’s surprised but happy to finally see him again, a few weeks later. At Junes again, but in the vegetable aisle this time, not the checkout.

Sho’s staring at a box of carrots when Souji taps him on the shoulder and says, “Hey.” Souji instantly regrets it; in a flash, Sho turns around and wrenches Souji’s hand away, sending him stumbling back and almost knocking into a pile of daikon. 

Souji steadies himself and rubs his hand with a wince. “Sorry,” he says. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

Not that he expected a reaction that strong. Sho’s in a defensive position, eyes fixed on Souji in a glare. It sort of reminds Souji of that one cat by Dojima’s garage that hisses whenever he tries to pet it.

He’ll win that cat over someday, though, so Souji says, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Sho says shortly. He eases up a little, but he still looks on guard. His voice is different, somehow; not as low, maybe a little nasal. Maybe he has a cold.

“Anyway, I just wanted to say hi,” Souji says, and waves. “Hi. Any gossips been bothering you?”

“No,” Sho says. His eyes move back to the carrots.

“That’s good. I know people can be kind of nosy around here.”

Sho doesn’t comment. Instead, he picks up a bag of carrots and puts it in his cart on top of a small mountain of groceries. Souji glances at it; it’s an odd mix of prepackaged meals and fruits and vegetables, stuff that can either be eaten raw or microwaved. Not much in the way of snack food. No drinks. 

Souji isn’t used to having to dictate the conversation himself. Usually people just start talking. Sho doesn’t seem inclined to say much, though, so Souji says, “I take it you’re new in town?”

After a moment, Sho nods, but still doesn’t say anything. He grabs his cart and starts moving to another aisle.

Souji snags some green onions and puts them in his basket before tagging along. He hasn’t met a person in Inaba yet he couldn’t talk to. “Me too,” he says. “My parents sent me here a couple months ago.”

Eventually, Sho says, “Your parents must not like you a whole lot.”

Progress! “They just move around a lot for work,” Souji says, repeating the same explanation he’s given dozens of times before over the years. “I don’t mind. I’m only here for a year.”

They end up at the bread aisle. Sho grabs a couple loaves seemingly at random and drops them in the cart. 

“Are you a student?” Souji asks. “I haven’t seen you at school here.” Sho looks about Souji’s age, but he hasn’t heard about any other transfer students, and he’d definitely remember if he saw him. 

“No,” Sho says, and moves on.

Maybe he’s older, then. Could be possible.

“Do you--”

“Stop _talking,”_ Sho snarls, and Souji takes a step back in surprise. “I don’t want to talk to you. Leave me alone.”

“Sorry,” Souji says, and means it. “I guess I’m being nosy too, huh. I’ll get out of your way.”

Sho leaves the aisle. Souji stands for a moment before feeling the familiar burst that comes from a rank up. He’s not sure he actually _did_ anything this time, but maybe complete sentences count?

He examines the rows of bread before picking one out. He’ll make sandwiches for tomorrow.

\---

The next day, Souji hangs out with Yukiko at the food court after school. A few unpleasant TV ‘journalists’ almost spoil it, but Yukiko doesn’t let it get her down, and the rank increases as usual. While they’re picking out supplies in the stationary department, Souji asks, “You hear a lot of local gossip, right?”

Yukiko nods. “People talk all the time at the inn,” she says. “I try not to listen in, but they’re so _loud_ sometimes…”

“Have you heard anything about a guy with a big scar on his face?” Souji asks.

Yukiko furrows her eyebrows. “What, like Daidara-san?”

“Well, kind of…he’s around our age, though.”

“Hm…oh! Yes, I have!” Yukiko’s eyes almost glow with excitement. “The mysterious boy who never talks to anyone, right?”

Souji nods. “Do you know anything about him?”

Yukiko leans in and speaks with a stage whisper. “Well, _some_ people think he’s Daidara-san’s illegitimate son, but some _other_ people think he’s a gang member trying to lay low, and I heard _one_ woman say she saw him threatening a cashier at Junes, but I don’t think that one’s true.”

“You don’t think he’d do something like that?” Souji asks, a little hopefully.

Yukiko shakes her head. “No, more than one person would have noticed if he did,” she says.

Right. Well. “Let me know if you hear anything new, will you?” Souji asks.

“All right,” Yukiko says, nodding. “Why are you so interested? I didn’t think you were one for gossip, Souji-kun.”

“Oh, I’ve seen him around a couple times, I was just curious,” Souji says. Which is more or less the case, even if it leaves out certain elements. “Besides, aren’t mysterious strangers so intriguing?”

Yukiko nods enthusiastically. “Ooh, maybe he’s a _ghost,”_ she says, eyes wide.

“I…I don’t think that one’s true.”

Souji hasn’t learned much, but at least it’s a start, isn’t it?

\---

The next time Souji sees Sho, he’s frazzled from the latest development in the…well, the murders, the murders they thought were _over_ now that they can save people from the TV world. But the murders aren’t over, and they can’t save everyone. Their only way of saving people apparently isn’t good enough. What _happened?_

And it doesn’t help that finals are next week. How can he concentrate on those?

But Souji has always found that working on Social Links clears the mind wonderfully, so he’s deeply, deeply relieved when he sees Sho in the shopping district that evening.

“Hey!” he calls out, jogging to catch up with him as Sho presumably walks home with his usual bags of groceries. “Do you have a minute? I won’t bug you with personal questions or anything, I promise.”

Sho actually stops and turns around when he sees him. There’s something odd about his face, a hint of expression other than annoyance, though Souji can’t quite place it. “Whaddya want?” Sho asks.

“Have you heard the news about the latest murder?” Souji asks, now standing next to him. 

A sliver of a smile appears on Sho’s face. “Yeah, so what?” he asks.

“I’m trying to figure out what happened,” Souji says. “Even if I didn’t like him much, he was my teacher, and he didn’t deserve that.” His eyes narrow. “No one deserves that.”

Sho snorts. “There are some really shitty people out there,” he says. “Plenty of people who deserve _more_ than that.”

Souji’s mouth twists. Not the direction he wanted the conversation to go. “Anyway, I’ve been asking around, and I’d like to know if you heard anything about Mr. Morooka before this happened,” he says.

There’s that oddness to Sho’s expression again. He shakes his head. “I just watch the news,” he says. “I don’t talk to people a lot.”

Surprise, surprise! Souji wonders why he thought Sho would be much help, really. Maybe he was just hopeful. But there’s something to what Sho just said. “Do you watch anything besides the news?” Souji asks.

Sho’s forehead wrinkles. “What, like quiz shows? No. They’re stupid.”

There are a number of reasons why Souji has no plans to ever introduce Sho to Nanako. “No, I meant…have you ever heard of the Midnight Channel?”

Sho stands stock still, his eyes fixed on Souji. “That rumor thing?” he says, slowly, carefully. “About soulmates and shit?”

“It’s got nothing to do with soulmates,” Souji says. “Which you’d know, if you’ve seen it.”

It’s a gamble; he’s actually surprised Sho’s heard of the soulmates thing, since he doesn’t socialize much. Maybe he overheard it in Junes. 

“…yeah, I’ve seen it,” Sho says, a smile sliding onto his face. “Pretty cool stuff, huh?”

 _Cool_ isn’t the word Souji would use, but whatever. “I think it might be connected to the murders,” he says. “Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi were both on it right before they died.”

“There were a bunch of other people on it, though,” Sho points out. “That girl with the fancy clothes. That guy with no clothes.”

Souji has enough mental fortitude not to laugh. Besides, he might have just shot himself in the foot, mentioning the Midnight Channel in the first place. Of course it would be suspicious if he brought up Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi without mentioning the others. “Maybe they’re in trouble too,” he says lamely. “Anyway, you didn’t see Mr. Morooka on it, did you?”

Sho shakes his head. 

“Right. Okay. So…I was just curious, I guess. Sorry if I wasted your time.” All he’s learned is what Sho watches on TV, which is admittedly interesting but not really relevant to the investigation. Ah well. He’s had less productive conversations.

He’s surprised, then, when Sho says, “It’s fine. Better than what you usually ask.”

“Really? That’s good,” Souji says with a smile. “I try not to annoy people too much.”

“Yeah, well, you still need to work on that,” Sho says. “Bye.” And he walks off into the night.

Another little burst in his soul. It’s always a nice feeling, especially when he’s making progress. Even if the progress is slow. At least Sho didn’t seem opposed to the conversation.

Dinner’s already over, so Souji was in the shopping district in the first place while he was on his way to the bus stop to go to the hospital. Feels like there’s always new equipment they need, and equipment costs money; at least his jobs pay him okay. He heads over to the bus stop, no longer impeded by conversation.

Souji isn’t sure if he _likes_ the hospital job, per se. But he feels a little bolder every time he doesn’t flinch at a mysterious sound in the night, and of course there’s the money, and he can’t exactly turn down a Social Link, can he?

He’s never sure how to behave around Sayoko, though. He doesn’t think she’s an actual threat, and he’s positive her behavior is masking some other issues--whose isn’t--but it’s still more than a little uncomfortable, the way she gets close to him. Still, she doesn’t seem so bad tonight.

“You’re a high schooler, right?” she asks, glancing up from the patient chart she’s holding. “At Yasogami High?”

Souji nods. He just finished mopping up the room; he’ll probably go home soon, once she’s approved everything.

“By any chance, you wouldn’t happen to know a Sho Minazuki, would you?” she asks. Her voice is a little hopeful, a little sad.

Souji blinks. That’s…not a combination he would have expected. “I’ve seen him around,” he says. Minazuki, huh? Sho hasn’t mentioned his last name yet. But Souji doesn’t know any other Shos in Inaba.

Sayoko seems to brighten a bit. “Is he doing well?” she asks. “Adjusting to school, and all that?”

Souji frowns. “I’ve never seen him at school,” he says. “I thought he was older.”

Sayoko’s face doesn’t so much fall as gently slide. “Ah,” she says, the faintest and bitterest of smiles on her face. “So he ended up not going after all.”

“Do you know him?” Souji asks, seizing the opportunity and only feeling a little guilty about it.

“He was a patient here a while ago,” Sayoko says. She holds her clipboard a little tighter. “But I can’t say anything else. Patient confidentiality.” But she looks like she wants to say more; she wants to share, receive as much information as she can give out. She can’t, though.

“He seems to be doing okay,” Souji volunteers. “I see him buying groceries. He doesn’t look sick or anything.”

Sayoko brightens again, just a little. “How is he with the cashiers? Does he talk to them?”

“I don’t think he talks much to anyone,” Souji says, and shrugs. “But I’m pretty sure he can be civil. For a little while, anyway.”

Sayoko relaxes. “I suppose that’s the best I could hope for,” she says, and sighs. “If you see him, can you tell him I said hello?”

Souji’s a regular message boy, it seems. “Of course,” he says, nodding. “I don’t know how much of a response I’ll get, but I’ll let you know if anything comes up.”

“Thank you,” Sayoko says with a smile. “Now, how’s your progress for tonight?”

\---

With Mitsuo Kubo in police custody, everything has finally, finally calmed down. It’s all over. No one else has appeared on the Midnight Channel; no new victims have shown up. The case is closed. The Investigation Team has done its job, and now the job is done.

Social Links still increase, though. Souji’s not sure what that means. Maybe it’s just an automated process? It doesn’t really matter, anyway; the Persona-related benefits were never the only reason he helped people. He has no qualms with continuing his efforts. Besides, it beats summer homework.

So he’s still happy to see Sho, once again walking back through the shopping district in the muggy summer night. Souji was going to go see if Adachi was by the gas station again, but he can never predict Adachi’s schedule, and Sho’s appearances are even rarer. 

“Out of curiosity, do you ever come into town for any reason other than groceries?” Souji asks, once he’s caught up with him.

Sho gives him a sidelong glance. “No,” he says, and keeps walking.

“I guess there’s not a whole lot to do here,” Souji says, making a sympathetic face. Then he remembers. “Oh! I work part-time at the hospital, and one of the nurses there asked if I knew you.”

Sho stops. “One of the nurses?” he asks carefully.

“Yeah, Sayoko Uehara,” Souji says with a nod. He puts his hands in his pockets. “She said you were her patient a while back.”

“…yeah,” Sho says eventually. “Did she say anything else?”

“She seemed sad you weren’t going to school.” Souji remembers her face; he’s got a good memory for faces, and expressions, and he always remembers how people look when they have any particular emotion. It’s useful, especially when you have to juggle between friends without getting anything mixed up.

He doesn’t remember Sho’s current face, though. It’s strange, not like last time, when Sho had seemed sort of happy in a grim sort of way; this time, Sho looks like he doesn’t know how to feel.

“It’s none of her business,” Sho says, his voice short. “She’s too nosy.”

“Well, whatever she is, she wanted to say hello,” Souji says. “I don’t expect you have anything to say back?” His tone is light; he’s learned that pushing Sho doesn’t work.

Sho is silent for several moments before saying, “Tell her she shouldn’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

“Message received,” Souji says, nodding. “I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear it.”

Sho raises an eyebrow. “You a friend of hers or something?”

“She’s my supervisor,” Souji says. “We get along pretty well.” He hesitates. “Though she’s a little…”

“A little what?” Sho asks, when Souji doesn’t finish.

He shouldn’t have mentioned it. But it’s too late now. Souji gives a slightly embarrassed laugh and rubs the back of his neck. “She’s a bit…forward, isn’t she?”

Sho just looks confused. “What do you mean?”

“I shouldn’t say,” Souji says. “She’s good at her job, at any rate.” And it’s not like he’s ever felt genuinely threatened by her. Well. Except that first time. But she’d backed off when he told her to stop.

Sho looks at him closely. “What do you mean?” he repeats.

“Maybe she just really likes me,” Souji says with a shrug. “It’s nothing, really.”

Though if Sho was a patient of hers…

No; if he doesn’t get what Souji’s vaguely referring to, nothing must have happened. Souji feels a little guilty about wondering if Sayoko would be so unprofessional. There’s a difference between a co-worker and a patient.

Sho is silent for a little too long, this time. Souji shifts awkwardly on his feet. Maybe he should go.

Then Sho mutters, “Whatever.” He doesn’t start walking yet.

Souji wants to ask why Sho was in the hospital. He wants to ask why Sho doesn’t go to school. He wants to ask where Sho was before he came to Inaba; there’s so much he wants to ask, so much he wants to _know._ It’s been three months, and he’s only met Sho four times. The dual Arcana are still unexplained. (He asked Igor about it once, but Igor only smiled enigmatically, and Souji’s not sure what he expected.) What _is_ Sho Minazuki? The Investigation Team has solved one mystery; Souji itches to solve another.

But all of that is too much, so Souji settles for, “Do you still watch the news?”

Sho gives him a wary look. “Yeah, why?” he asks.

Souji shrugs. “You seemed interested in the murders, and they’ve been solved now, so I wondered what you thought about that.”

The look Sho gives him now is strangely analytical. “You really think they’ve been solved, huh?” he asks, that faint sliver of a smile appearing on his face again.

“Well, the police caught the killer, so yeah,” Souji says, a little perplexed. “He confessed and everything. It’s over.”

“I saw him on the Midnight Channel,” Sho says. “The guy who says he did it.” He snorts. “That guy’s no killer.”

Souji feels faintly ill-at-ease, and isn’t sure why. “What do you mean?” he asks.

“Oh, maybe he killed that Morooka guy, I dunno,” Sho says with a shrug. “But that’d be his first one. He was too antsy about it. If he’d killed three people, he’d be more used to it. He’s just a hack. No way he has what it takes.”

“…I’ll take your word for it,” Souji says. He doesn’t like where this is going. Last time, Sho said there were people who deserved to die…

People can be morbid sometimes. It’s fine. Sho’s just kinda weird, that’s all. 

Anyway, Sho doesn’t know as much as Souji does; if he did, he’d know all the evidence against Mitsuo, and the evidence--even though they can’t share it outside the team--is pretty staggering. Mitsuo Kubo killed Mayumi Yamano, Saki Konishi, and Kinshiro Morooka. There’s no other option.

“Do whatever you want,” Sho says. “Doesn’t matter to me. The murders are the only interesting thing going on in this dumb town, anyway. It’d be boring if they were over just like that.”

Just kinda weird. Souji reminds himself about that. Sho doesn’t get out much and doesn’t seem to have any friends; it makes sense that he’d be a little off.

Of course, maybe that’s _why_ he doesn’t have any friends.

But Souji fights monsters in his spare time. One socially maladjusted person isn’t even a thing. 

“I guess that’s one way of looking at it,” Souji says with a slight smile. “But you know, this town might not have much, but it’s not a barren wasteland. There’s some stuff to do if you look around.” And don’t stay in your home all day watching the news and thinking about murders, he doesn’t add.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Sho mimics, his voice dry. 

Souji laughs, just a little. “Anyway, I won’t keep you,” he says. “You should probably get your food home before it melts.”

Sho’s eyebrows furrow together. “Do vegetables melt?” he asks, like he doesn’t actually know.

“If they do, something has gone deeply wrong,” Souji says firmly. “Nah, it was a joke. ‘cause it’s so hot and all.”

“Oh.” Sho looks a little embarrassed, now.

“Anyway, goodnight,” Souji says, waving. He turns around and starts heading toward the gas station, just in case Adachi is there after all.

Rank up.

He _thinks_ he hears something that sort of sounds like Sho saying, “Shut up, it’s not like anyone _told_ me that,” but there’s no one else for Sho to talk to, so it must have been nothing.

\---

It isn’t until after they’ve rescued Naoto that Souji remembers what Sho said about Mitsuo.

_He’s just a hack. No way he has what it takes._

Sho’s a pretty good guesser, apparently. Or maybe it was coincidence. What does it matter, really? The killer is still out there. 

But everyday life goes on. School, work, Social Links. Making sure Nanako has actual food to eat.

He’s in the fruit aisle when he meets Sho for the fifth time.

“You probably saw that last Midnight Channel, huh,” Souji says, idly examining an apple.

“Yeah,” Sho says. “Weird, wasn’t it? I didn’t get what she was talking about.” He picks up a box of strawberries. They’re about the same shade as his hair.

It takes a moment for Souji to parse what Sho said. “She?” he asks. “You could tell Naoto’s a girl?”

Sho looks at him funny. “Why wouldn’t I?” he asks. “I don’t know why she called herself the Detective _Prince_ if she’s not a guy, but that was definitely a girl.”

“Well, you’re one up on everyone else I know,” Souji says. “Including me. She pretended she was a guy, and none of us figured it out until later.”

Sho frowns. “Why would she pretend to be a guy?”

“It’s…complicated,” Souji says. He doesn’t think Naoto would want him to elaborate.

Sho shrugs and puts the strawberries in his cart. “People are weird,” he says.

“Can’t disagree with you there,” Souji says. “But that’s what makes them interesting, you know? It’d be boring if everyone was the same.”

Sho doesn’t respond, and moves over to a stand filled with peaches.

“Like you,” Souji says. “You’re kinda weird, but I like you.”

Sho stops in his tracks and gives Souji a look of utter bafflement. “Huh?”

“I wouldn’t keep trying to talk to you if I didn’t want to know you better,” Souji says, hoping this isn’t a disaster, hoping Sho won’t just leave. “I don’t know anyone else like you. So I like you.”

He certainly hasn’t met anyone so reticent to give details about themselves. Most people would have opened up to him more by now, but with Sho the best he can do is a normal conversation. And honestly, he likes the challenge of it. He wants to unpack this mystery, and he always likes having more friends.

“…I don’t get you at _all,”_ Sho says. “You don’t even _know_ me.” He looks like the concept is utterly alien to him.

“I want to know you, though,” Souji says. “That’s why I talk to you.”

Sho continues to stare at him. “You don’t want to know me,” he says finally. “Trust me. You don’t.”

“I can decide that for myself,” Souji says. “You don’t have to tell me your life story or anything. Whatever you want.”

Sho doesn’t say anything. His grip on the handle of the cart tightens. “What if I don’t want to tell you anything?” he asks.

“Then I won’t push it, but I’ll keep hoping someday you will,” Souji says. “I think it’d be good for you to open up a little more. But you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Souji’s never seen Sho look like this before, so--so _lost._ Vulnerable. He wonders if anyone has ever said anything like that to Sho before. 

“I--” Sho swallows. “I have to go.” He lets go of his cart and takes a few steps back before turning around and bolting out of the aisle, probably out of the store. 

Souji stares at the space Sho was standing in. Maybe he’s made a mistake. But he feels the rank increase anyway, so maybe he hasn’t? 

With an uncertain feeling in his stomach, he goes to return the food in Sho’s cart. Sho probably won’t be back for it.

\---

A few days later, Souji’s eating lunch with Yukiko when she says, “Oh! Remember when you asked me to let you know if I heard anything about the boy with the scar?”

He swallows his rice and nods. “What’d you hear?” he asks, maybe a little too eagerly.

“One of our customers said she saw him running through the shopping district the other night,” she says. “Very quickly, too. She said it was practically a blur.”

Ah. Well. “Yeah, I know about that one,” Souji says. He didn’t see it happen, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Sho ran all the way back to wherever he lived. 

“The woman she was talking to said she sees him at Junes sometimes,” Yukiko says. “She thinks it’s suspicious. I wanted to tell her there’s nothing suspicious about Junes, but of course I couldn’t.” She looks deeply disappointed by this.

“That’s where I see him, too,” Souji says. “I don’t think he really goes anywhere besides the grocery. I asked him about it.”

Yukiko’s eyes sparkle. “Ooh, you _talked_ to him?”

“Yeah, a few times,” Souji says. “He’s an all right guy. His name’s Sho Minazuki.”

“Sho Minazuki,” Yukiko says with a _hmm._ “I haven’t heard of any Minazukis around here. He must have moved here recently.”

“That’s what I figure,” Souji says, nodding. He isn’t sure Sho would want him to share any information, though, so he doesn’t. “I don’t really know anything about him, though. He’s kind of a mystery.”

“A _mystery,”_ Yukiko says, and Souji doesn’t like the look in her eyes. “I _like_ mysteries.”

“I think he wants to be left alone,” Souji says, partly because it’s true and partly to placate Yukiko. _Is_ it true, though? Sho didn’t seem angry. He just seemed confused. Maybe a little scared, even. 

Yukiko pouts. “Okay,” she says mournfully. “If you say so.”

“The guy just wants to buy groceries in peace,” Souji says, shrugging. “I wouldn’t bother him.” Yes, he’s being a hypocrite, but it’s okay when _he_ does it. He wants to help, not to gawk. Which is completely different and makes it okay.

The bell rings. They both glance over at the door. “You go on ahead,” Yukiko says, putting away her lunch. “I have to organize my things before I go back to class.”

Souji nods, and leaves, taking his mostly-empty lunch with him. He’s already through the door, and therefore out of hearing range, when Yukiko murmurs, “But I thought she said she saw him at the food court, not the grocery section?”

\---

Souji next sees Sho right after exams, when he’s feeling strangely exhilarated. He did great on them, he’s sure of it, and in any case all the studying is over now, so he can take a well-deserved break. Freedom! Accomplishment! So running into Sho on his way to Junes feels like just another test to be passed with flying colors.

“Hey there,” Souji says, moving around from behind him (and very carefully _not_ touching his shoulder). “You really don’t do anything here besides get groceries, do you?”

Sho’s clearly on edge the moment he sees him, but he doesn’t run away again. “Yeah,” he mumbles.

“I hope I didn’t freak you out or anything last time,” Souji says. There’s a decent distance between here and Junes; they’ve got time to talk.

“…it’s just…weird,” Sho says, looking at the ground in front of him as he walks. “I still don’t get it.”

“That’s fine,” Souji says. “I guess it could be kinda surprising, if you’re not great with people. But I did mean it. I want to get to know you better.”

They walk in silence for a little bit, the only noise the sound of their footsteps and the occasional car. Eventually, Sho says, “That’s not a good idea.”

“You said that last time, more or less,” Souji says. He puts his hands in his pockets. “But I think I can handle it, honest.” He can’t tell Sho exactly _why_ he can handle a lot of things these days, but hopefully Sho won’t ask.

He glances at Sho’s face. There’s that look of vulnerability again, though it passes quickly. Another silence drags on almost too long. “I’m still not gonna tell you,” Sho says, but it sounds a little different, a little forced. Like he doesn’t really want to say it.

“That’s fine too,” Souji says. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” He wants to know, he wants to know rather badly at this point, but not at the expense of Sho’s well-being. He doesn’t think Sho has a whole lot of that.

And then, a thought occurs to him. A slightly mad one, maybe, brought on by the post-exam energy. “If you’re okay with just talking about normal stuff, nothing deep or personal or anything, do you want to come over for dinner?”

Sho stops so suddenly Souji nearly runs into him. He turns his head to look at Souji, and the expression on his face now is even more baffled than it was last time. “You’re joking, right?” he asks, his voice full of incredulity.

“Nope,” Souji says, shaking his head. “I was on my way to get food for it anyway, I can alter my plans a little. It’d just be me and my cousin, but she’s friendly, she won’t bite.”

Sho opens his mouth to say something, but doesn’t, and closes it. His mouth twists. A hardness flashes in his eyes. He seems at war with himself, torn between his usual rejection and--what? Souji’s gotten pretty good at reading people; right now, Sho seems…lonely. And unwilling to acknowledge it. Or maybe on the verge of it; maybe trying to balance on a fence and about to fall to either side.

Souji can almost feel it like a tangible sensation. This is important. Something hinges on Sho’s answer. He doesn’t know what, exactly.

(In one world, Sho says no.)

(He runs again, and Souji doesn’t see him until the following summer.)

(He goes down quickly, then. Falls apart sooner. And someone takes over, and things don’t go very well at all. Not for him. Not for anyone.)

(This is not that world.)

“…sure, okay,” Sho says hoarsely.

Souji grins, wide and bright. “Great! You can get your shopping done, and we’ll meet at the entrance, all right?”

“…all right.”

Souji walks with a spring in his step. Sho’s slower, behind him, but Souji can still hear him walking, so that’s good.

At Junes, Souji doesn’t alter his list _that_ much--just gets some extra chicken and a couple more potatoes. And another carrot. The sauce will do fine, and he can always make more rice. 

Sho somehow finishes before he does, and when Souji gets back outside to the entrance, seeing Sho standing just off to the side of a street lamp, he thinks he can barely hear whispering. But Sho’s head snaps up when Souji approaches, and Souji thinks maybe Sho was just trying to psych himself up or something. No big deal.

Souji lifts his grocery bag as a way of greeting. “My house isn’t far from here,” he says. “Well, my uncle’s house. But I like to think it’s mine, too.” His previous home--the one he inevitably returns to whenever his parents aren’t away--never really felt like a home. Dojima’s house, though, small and quiet as it may be, feels more like one than anywhere Souji’s ever been.

Sho nods shortly. Souji starts the walk back from where he came, and Sho follows after him, silent, though Souji hadn’t expected he’d say much yet. Still in shock, sort of. Hopefully he’ll relax a little by the time they get home.

Souji takes up the conversational slack, as he’s grown used to doing with this particular Social Link. “I move around a lot,” he says. “My parents work in different cities all the time, so I don’t usually stay in one location for long. This time they’re going abroad for a year, and they sent me here instead. I thought it’d be boring, but it’s actually been pretty fun so far.”

Sho doesn’t reply, but Souji didn’t expect him to.

“I’ve made a lot of friends here,” Souji continues. “Not just people from school--people I work with, and people from around town, too. Like you.”

He glances back. Sho’s face is shuttered, his mouth tight, staring at the ground again while he walks.

“I think Inaba’s actually a pretty nice place, if you make the effort,” Souji says. “There’s more stuff to do here than you’d think. Fishing, modelmaking, gardening…oh, and there are lots of stray cats here, which is _great.”_ His eyes gleam before he catches himself. “But, uh, I guess not everyone would think so.”

Souji keeps up the idle rambling off and on while they make the trek to the Dojima household. When they get there, he instinctively freezes--not because of fear or anything, but because _that cat_ is sitting next to the garage. The one he’s been trying to bond with for months. It’s _right there,_ and it’s sitting like a loaf with its eyes casually pointing in his direction. 

“I’m sorry, I have to--just give me a moment.” Souji slowly puts his grocery bag down on the ground and slowly, slowly steps towards the garage, leaning down until he’s almost on his knees. He holds out his hand, inching as close to the cat as he dares.

It regards him with half-closed eyes. It isn’t moving away, and it doesn’t _look_ like it’s going to bite him, which is more than he can say for most days he sees it. Mostly it looks like it’s found a spot to sit and does not feel like moving. 

Closer. Closer. Almost there. Souji’s suddenly grateful Sho still isn’t saying anything, because who knows what that might do. He glances back to check, though, and Sho is watching him with perplexed fascination. Sometimes people get judgey about this sort of thing. Sho just seems too confused to comment.

Back to the cat. It still hasn’t moved. With agonizing slowness, Souji finally closes the last few centimeters of distance--

\--and the cat makes a “mrrp” noise, closes its eyes, and allows him to very carefully stroke its fur.

Souji decides that this is one of the best days of his life.

 _“Good_ kitty,” he whispers. Its fur isn’t quite silky-soft--living outside probably prevents that--but it’s still a cat, and it’s letting him pet it, and that makes it a good cat. Probably one of the best cats. Then again, Souji doesn’t think there’s such a thing as a _bad_ cat, just ones that have been poorly-treated or not given the right opportunities. He doesn’t know what kind of life this cat leads. It’s a bit on the thin side, though, and he resolves to leave out more food for it. Cat food is pretty cheap at Junes.

With a great deal of regret, he finally pulls back, because it’s rude to keep a guest waiting. The cat will probably be there again soon. Sho, on the other hand, takes weeks to reappear. Priorities. Regrettable priorities.

Still, he feels even more accomplished now than he did after finishing exams. Grades are one thing; he wasn’t sure he’d ever get this cat to warm up to him. Too often did he have to make a hasty retreat when it swiped at his hand. And now one of its eyes is open and it’s looking at him with indifference. This is almost as good as a Social Link.

Speaking of Social Links, though, he picks up his bag, straightens up, and turns back to Sho, saying, “I’m sorry, I just had to do that. I’ve been trying to pet it for so long, and I couldn’t let the opportunity pass by.”

Sho raises an eyebrow and speaks for the first time in fifteen minutes. “You’re a really weird guy, you know that?”

Souji grins. “Yeah, but people seem to like it, so it works out okay.”

Once he’s opened the door, Souji calls out, “Nanako, I’m home!”

“Big bro!” She sits up from her spot in front of the TV and runs to the door, eyes bright. “Welcome back! What are we having for--” Then she notices Sho, and stands very still.

Souji waits with bated breath. Sho does look kinda scary, and Nanako’s never met him before. This might be awkward.

“…hello!” Nanako says, squaring her shoulders and looking Sho right in the eye. “I’m Nanako Dojima! Are you one of big bro’s friends?”

“This is Sho,” Souji says. He puts the grocery bag down on the genkan and leans down to take off his shoes. “Yeah, we’re friends.”

Sho gives a weak smile and waves at her. “Hi,” he says. “You’re, uh, his cousin, right?”

Nanako beams. “That’s right! Are you staying for dinner?” She eyes his overloaded grocery bags with curiosity.

“He is, but the stuff he’s carrying is for his own house,” Souji says, standing back up and retrieving his bag. “I caught him outside Junes when he was about to go shopping. I figured it’d be rude not to let him do what he came for.”

Sho follows Souji’s example with the shoes, though a little hesitantly, like he wasn’t actually sure what to do. He follows Souji into the kitchen, and Souji starts unpacking his own groceries.

“Oh, and we’re having curry,” Souji tells Nanako. “Can you get the dishes out?”

Nanako nods and starts pulling tableware out of the cupboards. There’s not a whole lot of space in the kitchen, but she’s small and quick.

“Might as well put yours in the fridge too, so it stays cool while you’re here,” Souji says, gesturing at the fridge. “There’s room. Probably. You really do buy a lot of food, don’t you.”

Sho starts taking food out of the grocery bags on the counter. “I don’t really like coming into town,” he says quietly. “I stock up so I don’t have to.”

Souji nods. “I figured. Efficiency is important.” He sets his food on the counter rather than putting it in the fridge; he’ll be using it right away, after all.

Sho’s selection doesn’t seem to change much. Vegetables, fruit, bread, premade bento boxes, instant ramen. “I take it you don’t cook a lot,” Souji says.

Sho shakes his head. His mouth twists. Souji doesn’t ask.

“Well, if you ever want to, I can give you some recipes,” Souji says. “I make dinner most nights, and sometimes I make lunch ahead of time so I can share it with my friends at school. Cooking’s not that hard once you get the hang of it. Actually, want to help out tonight? It’s not complicated. Mostly just cutting things.”

“…I can do that,” Sho says.

Souji starts the rice cooker first, tossing an onion to Sho and gesturing towards the cutting board. He doesn’t pay much attention to Sho at first, doing his own work and figuring Sho doesn’t need any help, but after several sharp whacks in lightning-quick succession he looks over and sees the onion neatly dismembered into a pile of small evenly-shaped pieces. Sho twirls the carving knife between his fingers like an old west gunslinger with a revolver, another tiny smile on his face.

“Wow!” Souji glances back over the counter to see Nanako watching, eyes wide in admiration.

Sho flips the knife up into the air--Souji reflexively twitches and waits for disaster--and catches it in one sharp movement as it spins. He points it towards Nanako and says, “Knife to meet you, Nanako-chan.”

Nanako bursts into giggles. Souji looks over at Sho, and sees him grinning much brighter than Souji’s ever seen.

Dinner was a very good idea.

Once all the ingredients are chopped and heating in the pan, Souji leans back against the counter and says, “You know, you can take your hood off while you’re inside. I already know what you look like.”

Souji’s never seen Sho without that dark green hooded sweatshirt period, much less with the hood down. He figures it’s as much a coping mechanism as an actual disguise--people can’t see your face, they can’t see you at all.

Sho hesitates for a moment before pulling the hood down. In the warm light of the kitchen, the scar was already visible, but it stands out a little more now that there’s less around it. A thick, jagged X spread across his face. Souji wants to ask, but he said he wouldn’t, so he doesn’t.

Nanako, though, made no such promise. “Does your face hurt?” she asks, wrinkling her forehead in concern.

“Uh, no, it was--it was a long time ago, it’s fine,” Sho says, only stammering a little. He rubs the back of his neck.

“That’s good,” Nanako says, nodding. Then: “Were you in a fight?”

“Uh--something like that, I guess,” Sho says. He shoves his hands in his pockets; Souji notices they’re clenched tight against the fabric.

“Don’t bother him, Nanako,” Souji says gently. “There’s stuff you don’t want to talk about, right? Everyone has some.”

“I’m sorry,” Nanako says, her face downcast. “I didn’t mean to be nosy.”

“It’s fine,” Sho says. “Your cousin bothers me too, I’m used to it.”

Nanako gasps. “Big bro! Are you _mean?”_

Souji’s about to protest when Sho laughs out loud. “Nah, just persistent,” Sho says. “He’s not so bad.”

Souji tries not to glow with pride. Today _is_ a good day.

He stirs the curry. It’s coming along nicely.

“Big bro’s always really nice,” Nanako informs him. “He helps me with my homework and he cooks a lot, even if dad isn’t home. I like him a lot.”

Sho gives a wry smile while Souji tries not to blush. “I guess you’re lucky to have him, huh,” Sho says.

Nanako nods enthusiastically. “Yeah! Do you have any brothers?”

“Uh…” Sho hesitates longer than before. An expression quickly flits across his face; Souji can’t quite tell what it was. “…yeah, kinda,” he says eventually, quietly. “I like him a lot too.”

Souji immediately files that away for mental reference. Sho’s never mentioned any family, but then, why would he? He’s not exactly forthcoming with anything, much less a personal life. But he must have had parents at some point. Maybe a sibling isn’t out of the question. Where’s this brother now, though, if Sho seems so alone?

Whether for good or for ill, Nanako seems content with this answer and doesn’t pry any further. Instead, she moves on to chatting about her day--“Shinohara-sensei said my drawing was the best in the class!”--and asking about Souji’s--“Were your exams okay?” He answers with aplomb, as always, and sneaks glances at Sho, to see his reactions to normal conversation. Sho mostly seems uncertain about if he should join in or not.

Once the food’s ready, Souji ladles it out and they take their plates over to the table in the living room. “Thanks for the food,” they say, Sho a little behind the others.

Souji half-expects Sho to have no table manners, but he’s surprisingly neat. A little slow, though, careful to observe how Souji and Nanako are doing. 

“This is good,” Sho says, swallowing a bite. “You make this stuff a lot?”

“Practice makes perfect,” Souji says with a nod. “You like having a home-cooked meal for a change?”

Sho shrugs. “Sure, I guess. But I do okay.”

“Well, you’re welcome to come over anytime,” Souji says. “It’s usually just me and Nanako, but sometimes my uncle’s here too.” It occurs to him, though, that it might not be a great idea to introduce Dojima to Sho just yet. So. Maybe not _any_ time.

Sho makes a noncommittal noise and continues eating.

The rest of the meal proceeds pleasantly. Sho still isn’t a great conversationalist--Souji and Nanako do most of the talking--but he seems much less guarded than usual, and that alone is a plus in Souji’s book. Sitting here like this, having a normal meal, he seems almost normal himself. The only thing that stands out is the scar. And it’s not like he’s the only person in town who has one. Hell, Daidara’s is bigger.

At the end of the evening, with dishes in the sink and leftovers in the fridge, Sho says, “Well, I should get going.” He looks a little wistful.

“It was _nice_ to meet you,” Nanako says, and giggles. He smiles at her, just a little.

“We enjoyed having you here,” Souji says. He holds out his hand. After a moment, Sho takes it, and they shake hands. “See? Socializing isn’t that bad.”

Sho doesn’t respond to that except with another little half-smile, and picks up his bags, refilled with groceries. “G’night,” he says, and leaves out through the door, into the dark.

Souji watches him for a moment before closing the door. He looks at Nanako. “You liked him?”

Nanako nods. “Yeah! He’s funny. Is he coming back?”

“I hope so,” Souji says. He feels the rank up. Six, now. Assuming the double Arcana don’t change things up, there are four more to go.

But what _are_ the double Arcana? So far, it’s just been a normal Social Link. If Igor won’t tell him, Souji doesn’t have any way of knowing.

Still! Four more to go. If something’s going to happen, it’ll happen later.

…now, is that cat still outside?

\---

November.

Sometimes it feels like the only thing keeping Souji going, these days, is that people _need_ him to keep going--the investigation is still happening, people still need his help, there’s always a surfeit of things to do. The cats are all gone, though. Sometimes he wonders if that’s a metaphor.

At least the fishing is good. The old man was so happy to see the Sea Guardian, and maybe that’s enough, some days.

Souji doesn’t need to buy many groceries these days. Nanako never ate a lot, but it doesn’t feel important to put effort into making anything, not anymore. Sometimes food doesn’t really taste like anything.

But he doesn’t let that stop him. He _can’t_ let it get to him; not when so much is on the line. So he holds on to the knowledge that his help is needed and the hope that he’ll be able to provide it. 

And ‘many’ groceries is not ‘any’ groceries, and as Souji walks back through the foggy shopping district with his limited purchases, he bumps into someone. “Sorry,” he says, knowing it’s fifty-fifty if the other person will even care. “Didn’t see you. Fog’s pretty bad.”

The other person stands still. “Yes,” he says, and Souji vaguely remembers that low voice, but doesn’t remember where. Then his eyes adjust enough to the fog to make out the details of the person he bumped into. Same height and build as him. Dark green hoodie.

“…Sho?” Souji asks. He hasn’t seen Sho since that night in October. He’d wondered, sometimes, what Sho was up to, but he never had any way of contacting him, and there had been other things on his mind.

Sho is silent for a long moment before saying, “More or less.” It’s a strange thing to say, and the voice is strange too.

Souji walks closer to see Sho’s face through the fog. It’s impassive, betraying no particular emotion.

“How are you holding up?” Souji asks. He gestures around him. “The fog’s getting to a lot of people. Maybe you didn’t know about it, if you haven’t been here lately.”

“I’ve heard about it,” Sho says. It’s not just the depth of his voice that’s different; he sounds _tired._ The fog doesn’t really do that. Not from what Souji’s seen, anyway.

But Souji understands feeling tired.

“Maybe it’s a good thing you don’t come into town much,” Souji says. “People aren’t all that friendly lately.” Or most of them, anyway; fortunately, Souji’s friends seem more or less okay so far. He wonders if that applies to Sho, too.

Sho gives a thin smile. “People aren’t all that friendly anyway, much of the time.”

Souji decides to avoid the subject. “Is there something wrong with your voice?” he asks. “You sound different.”

“…I suppose you could say I’m a little under the weather,” Sho says drily. “So to speak.”

Souji rubs his cold hands together and breathes on them, hoping to combat the chill that came with the fog. “People say the fog is making them sick,” he says. “I don’t know why it would. It’s just fog.” But it isn’t really, is it? Souji’s never heard of fog like this before. Not with such an oppressive atmosphere. Or its persistence. Or its sickly yellow color.

Sho hesitates. “Is Nanako-chan well?” he asks, his voice suddenly a little softer.

It’s Souji’s turn, now, to become silent. After a few moments, he says, “No. She’s in the hospital.”

“I see.” Sho’s impassive face seems to slip a little.

“Not because of the fog, though,” Souji says. “It started before that.” Not much before that, though, not at all. And the fog in the TV world…but it doesn’t do any good to think about that. All he can do for Nanako is hope that the doctors find a way to cure her. And they will. They _will._

“…she was on the Midnight Channel, wasn’t she,” Sho says quietly. “I saw someone who looked like her. Indistinct, but similar enough.”

Souji swallows. He nods. “Yeah,” he says. 

For a moment, he wants to tell Sho everything. But even if Sho believed him, it wouldn’t help. So he doesn’t elaborate.

“I’d hoped it wasn’t her,” Sho says. “But I had no way of knowing for certain. Until now.” He sounds so, so tired; like he’d give in and let everything pass by if he could, but he can’t.

Souji knows that feeling very, very well, and so he asks, on a brief and almost inexplicable hunch, “Are you worried about someone?”

Sho regards him with a worn-down eye. “…someone very important to me is in poor condition,” he says eventually. “There doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it. It’s frustrating, isn’t it? Being so helpless.”

“…yeah,” Souji repeats. It is. There’s nothing he can do for Nanako now. As much as he wishes there was. 

Sho stares out into the fog. “I would do anything for him, if I could,” he says. “But there is nothing. Only waiting for whatever will happen next.”

“At least we can hope,” Souji finds himself saying. “It’s not much, but it’s something.”

Sho’s laugh is short and bitter. “Hope,” he says. “A nice word. But not a useful one. The world doesn’t care much for hope.”

“I don’t know, sometimes hope can come through,” Souji says. “I hoped I’d fit in here. I hoped I could help people. I hoped I could be your friend.”

Sho’s face doesn’t have the loneliness it did last time. But Souji can still see the faint traces of desperation, as much as Sho is trying to hide them now. Sho wants _something,_ even if maybe he doesn’t know what it is. 

“Only time will tell whose philosophy prevails,” Sho says with a faint smile. “Until then, food supplies are low.” He starts walking again.

“I hope your friend gets better soon,” Souji calls out to him.

“…as do I for Nanako-chan,” Sho replies, a bit muffled through the fog. He vanishes into the sickly yellow.

Souji stands there for a moment before turning back around and heading home. Rank seven.

He has to do what he can. For Nanako, for his friends, for the whole town. Giving in isn’t an option. He _will_ uncover the truth, and he will do it before anyone else gets hurt.

As he makes his way home, he briefly wonders if he’s ever heard Sho use words like ‘prevails’ before, but it doesn’t really matter, so he puts it out of his mind.

\---

He just needs to be a little stronger. Fusing Personas is easier, after all, the more ranks he has in his Social Links, and he needs the best Personas he can get. And he has time. 

The end of the year, huh? Well. There are a few weeks before then. There’s time.

Everyone in the team is maxed; he has a few stragglers, though, from the rest of the town. More afternoons at the day care. More soccer practice. Hinoe must be lonely, still.

And then there’s his most sporadic Social Link, the one whose appearances in town are largely unpredictable, the one he only ever meets by coincidence. He _needs_ that extra boost from the double Arcana. And beyond that, he wants to know how Sho is doing. If Sho’s friend is okay yet. It’s easy to worry, when you only see someone every few weeks and have no news in between.

It’s fortunate, then, when Souji sees Sho coming out from the shopping district one foggy evening. Though all the evenings are foggy, lately. Souji isn’t actually on his way to Junes this time; he’d been hoping to run into Daisuke, who hangs out in the shopping district at night sometimes. But Sho is even better.

Souji waves at him, hoping it’s clear enough that Sho can see him. Sho acknowledges him by lifting up one of his ever-present over-stuffed grocery bags and walking up to him.

“I wondered when I’d see you again,” Souji says. “The town’s been getting worse and worse lately. Is it any better where you live?”

Not that he actually knows where Sho lives. 

“No,” Sho says shortly. “My neighbors are even more of an annoyance than they were previously.” His voice is the same low one from last time.

Souji gives a sympathetic smile. “I figured. How’s your friend doing? Is he any better yet?”

“No,” Sho repeats. His low voice is clipped, brusque. 

“I’m sorry,” Souji says. “Nanako’s…well, she’s stable.” He’d never felt more bone-deep terrified than that night. But she’s better now. Not good, but better.

“And how is your hope holding up?” Sho asks. His face could almost be called smug if it weren’t for the familiar fear in his eyes.

“Still strong,” Souji says firmly. “It’s not over yet.” There’s still time. And once he does finish it--well, he’s not sure what will happen, exactly. But he’s relatively certain the world won’t end. And that’s a decent goal.

Sho’s smile is a bitter, knife-edged thing. “Yet,” he says.

“I won’t say that nothing ever ends,” Souji says. “There’s always going to be suffering in the world. I can’t guarantee a happy ending for everything. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to _try.”_

Nanako in hospital sheets white as a burial shroud. The floodplain and garage empty of cats. The twisted streets of Magatsu Inaba ringing with Adachi’s laughter.

A heart monitor beeping once more. A stockpile of fish in the freezer. His teammates around him, fire in their eyes.

No, he will never stop trying.

Sho laughs, then, a harsh, short laugh, devoid of humor. “What do you know of _suffering,”_ he says. “You live in a quiet town with a loving family and friends all around you. Oh yes, your family is hurting, the fog is sinking into you, but you have never felt _real_ pain. Blood is an abstract concept. Death is a rare visitor. You are wanted, you are _loved._ This world has only ever welcomed you. It is easy to preach hope when you have never known despair.”

Souji sees a dark chasm before him, stretching impossibly deep, impassably wide. The jagged edges threaten to rip open his feet if he gets too close. It’s a long, long way to fall, and what he might find at the bottom is unknowable.

Indeed, that’s the heart of it; he _doesn’t know_ what Sho is talking about. Sho hasn’t been like this before, though the last meeting was darker than most. He has the sudden suspicion there’s something in Sho’s situation far messier than anyone else he’s met, and the fog is likely only showing him a fraction of it. It’s an uneasy feeling, knowing this. Almost as unsettling as the fog. How well _does_ he know Sho, really? How little has he seen, and how much has Sho just revealed about himself?

Some things, he realizes, take more than ten ranks to fix.

But if those ten ranks are all he can give, they are at least something.

“You’re right,” Souji says softly. “There’s a lot I don’t know. I don’t know what kind of life you’ve been living. Even if I did know, I might not be able to understand. But it’s easy to preach despair when you won’t let hope through the door.”

Sho’s eyes are narrow, his voice is rough. “Words are pretty things,” he says. “This world is full of them. Use them as much as you like; it matters nothing to me.” He moves past Souji, footsteps silent in the fog.

“But your friend matters to you, doesn’t he?” Souji calls out.

Sho pauses only for a moment before continuing his exit.

Souji didn’t really expect the rank up, but it comes anyway. At this point, he throws away all his expectations; the mystery of Sho Minazuki seems a lot bigger than he thought it was, and he’s not sure he has all the tools to handle it. 

Still. The rank _did_ increase.

Two more to go.

All he has to do now is save the world.

\---

And he does.

The rest of December is a flurry of exhilaration, clear skies and clear air and the weight off the world off his shoulders. Every day feels like a celebration. Admittedly, Souji doesn’t actually do much during most of them; he figures he’s earned a break. The fog’s gone, Nanako and Dojima are improving, and the killer is caught; what’s there left to do?

A few Social Links, yes. He didn’t risk going all the way to the end of the year. He’s not sure what they’re even good for, though, at this point. And no one’s life is on the line, so it doesn’t hurt to slack off a little for a while, right?

And then he dreams about Marie.

Well.

Time to get back into the swing of things. 

At least the snow is a nice change of pace; Inaba is engulfed in soft white, all along the ground and the roofs and the trees, and with snow comes a peaceful, hushed near-silence. It might be cold, but it’s a gentle cold, much more pleasant than the bone-chill of the fog.

There’s not much Souji can actually do about Marie except wait for more news, so he goes through his usual days of spending time with friends and acquaintances, working to earn money for equipment he didn’t think he’d need again, catching bugs in the snow. The cat by the riverbank isn’t back yet--he hopes it found someplace warm--but he finds plenty of cats curled up in the garage, sheltering themselves from the cold. If anything, they’re even more appreciative of the fish now.

That one cat is there almost every night. It still doesn’t walk up to him, but it seems content to be around him, and doesn’t mind being petted. It definitely doesn’t mind being hand-fed pieces of trout. 

Souji next sees Sho on another snowy evening, on his way to Junes.

Sho, carrying the same grocery bags as ever, stops on the sidewalk and looks at him. “Sorry I was being all gloomy last time,” Sho says with a shrug. His voice is back to normal. “I was kinda in a bad mood.”

“Can’t say I blame you,” Souji says. “It wasn’t hard to be in a bad mood back then. So you’re feeling better now? That’s good.”

Sho nods. “Everything got a lot easier once the fog was gone,” he says. “When it was around, it was kinda…it was really hard to think, y’know? I got mixed up a lot. But it’s all gone now.”

“Nanako’s better now, too,” Souji says, smiling. “She’s still in the hospital, but she came home for a little while and she’ll be coming back for good soon. I bet she’d like to see you.”

Sho gives an embarrassed cough and looks to the side. “Whatever,” he mutters.

“And how’s your friend? Is he better too?” Truth be told, Souji’d been worrying about that. With the fog again, everything was probably okay, but he had no way of knowing if that was true for Sho’s friend too.

For some reason, it looks like Sho’s trying not to laugh. “He’s, uh, he’s fine,” he says. “All better.”

“That’s good to hear,” Souji says. “I was worried about him.”

Sho gives him a strange look. “You don’t know him, though,” he says. “Why were you worrying about someone you don’t know?”

“He’s important to you, and you’re my friend, so he’s important to me by proxy,” Souji says. “Him being sick was obviously hurting you, so why wouldn’t I want him to get better?”

His logic is ironclad. He’s practically a gold medalist in wanting people to be happy.

“…I don’t know if I’m ever gonna get you,” Sho says, shaking his head. “But, uh, thanks anyway, I guess.”

Souji beams. “So long as it’s all working out,” he says. “What do you think of all this snow? Big improvement on the fog, right?”

He’d meant it as idle conversation, but that shuttered expression flits across Sho’s face for just a moment, and then it’s gone. “I don’t have a lot of experience with this stuff,” Sho says with a shrug. “The place I grew up in didn’t have any.”

Souji knows better than to ask where. “Snowstorms aren’t any fun, but this kind of weather is one of my favorites,” he says. He turns his face upward. “When I’m looking up at the sky like this, the whole world seems so far away,” he says. “Everything’s quiet and peaceful. It’s just you and the cold, and the cold isn’t so bad.”

The sky above is a dark blue, dotted with distant stars. The daytime sky is usually gray, but a soft, neutral gray, more soothing than bleak. 

Souji glances back down to see Sho looking up too. “I guess,” Sho says. “The quiet’s nice. It’s kinda like being the only person in the world, isn’t it? The way nothing’s moving or saying anything. Just you and the cold, like you said.”

Souji nods, though he’s not sure Sho can see him. “But you can’t look up at the sky forever,” he says. “The world’s waiting for you to come back to it. Besides, you can’t appreciate the quiet if it’s all you’ve got. It’s better to balance this stuff out.”

Sho doesn’t say anything. He looks a little sad, somehow. 

“Anyway, just because the cold isn’t so bad doesn’t mean it’s fun to be out in it too long, and I’ve got some shopping to do,” Souji says. “You should get your food back to your place, too. I won’t keep you.”

“Yeah,” Sho says quietly, finally lowering his head. “I should get going.”

As they both start to walk again, past each other, Souji waves and says, “Say hi to your friend for me!”

“Sure,” Sho says, waving back. “See you later.”

Rank nine. 

Only one to go, and Souji’s not sure how much he’s actually accomplished here. Sho’s come out of his shell, yeah, but usually there’s some kind of personal drama going on. Sho’s just…well, not alone, if he has a friend, but the only thing that seems to be going on with him is whatever he’s hiding, and he still hasn’t revealed any of it. Souji hasn’t given much in the way of life-changing advice. Just talked.

But maybe that’s enough. Sho certainly seems happier than he did back when Souji first met him. More at peace with things. That’s not bad at all.

Souji keeps walking, and wonders what kind of food he should make for Nanako and Dojima once they return.

\---

Exams are tomorrow. Souji’s a little nervous, but not too much; he’s aced everything so far, and doesn’t see a reason why he couldn’t continue to do so. Aside from worrying about Marie, anyway, but he knows Margaret will come through. She wouldn’t have given him those status updates if she thought it was impossible.

He’s definitely surprised, though, when after school he walks through the shopping district with the intention of going fishing one last time before exams, and sees Sho leaving Junes. In broad daylight. With other people in the general vicinity.

This, he _has_ to see, so Souji abandons his fishing plans and heads straight for the store entrance. “Didn’t think I’d ever see you out at daytime!” Souji says as he arrives. They move to stand away from the doors, leaving space for people to use them.

“I just kinda felt like getting out of my apartment, that’s all,” Sho says. Souji glances down at his bags--they’re less full than usual. Did he already go shopping more recently?

“That’s great!” Souji says, grinning. “It’s not good for anyone to stay inside all day all the time. I know I’d go stir-crazy if I couldn’t get out to do anything.”

“Oh, I get out,” Sho says. “I do stuff for people. Not the kind of stuff you do for people. Different stuff.”

“Can I ask what kind of stuff?” Souji asks, throwing caution to the wind. You never know.

Sho shakes his head, but he doesn’t look angry. “Nope,” he says. “My point is, it’s not like I never leave my apartment. I just don’t really like this place.” He hesitates. “Well…didn’t, I guess.”

Souji tries not to glow. “Didn’t?” he asks.

Sho shrugs. “I dunno,” he says. “Being around people isn’t always so bad.”

“I’m glad you see it that way,” Souji says, smiling. “I was wondering if you were going to keep being such a loner all the time.”

“Yeah, well, whatever,” Sho says. He hesitates again, looking a little uncomfortable. “Okay, so,” he says eventually. “Do you maybe wanna…visit my place?”

Souji tries very hard to maintain a normal, acceptably-happy tone of voice when he says, “Yeah, I’d love to!”

“It’s kinda far from here, about forty-five minutes,” Sho says. He looks sort of happy, maybe? Sort of worried. Uncertain which he should feel. “If you don’t want to walk that far, then…”

“No, it’s fine, I walk more than that going to and from school and around town every day,” Souji says, shaking his head. “It’s good exercise.”

“Okay,” Sho repeats. “We should get going.” He starts to walk back through the shopping district. Souji follows.

Souji’s been to pretty much all the houses of his friends his age, for various reasons, but he didn’t think he’d see Sho’s. He has no idea what it would even look like. A ramshackle apartment? A studio? Probably nothing fancy. Come to think of it, he doesn’t know what Sho does for a living. ‘Stuff for people’ is kinda vague. Probably not a billionaire, though.

“Where _do_ you live, anyway?” Souji asks, as they walk. “I always wondered.”

“There are some apartments on the edge of town,” Sho says. “Away from all the suburbs and shit. A lot quieter.”

The bus goes there, Souji knows; it’s even got an evening stop at the shopping district. Not both ways after that, but Sho wouldn’t have to walk at least one leg of the trip.

Then Souji realizes that Sho probably wouldn’t do great in a small space with lots of other people and limited room for movement.

“I can see why you’d like that,” Souji says, nodding. “Besides, houses aren’t really practical if you live alone.” He remembers two months of living by himself in a house. Granted, there were other reasons to be depressed, but having all that emptiness to himself didn’t help. 

Sho doesn’t respond to that. Eventually, he says, “I don’t really like it there either.”

“Oh? Why not?” Souji asks, genuinely puzzled. If Sho doesn’t--didn’t--like coming into town, the place he was coming from should be better, right?

“I dunno, I just…” Sho sighs. “There’s a lot of stuff I don’t like.” And he leaves it at that.

Souji’s feeling bold, though. “What kind of stuff _do_ you like?” he asks.

Sho stays silent for a while before saying, “I like swords.”

That’s…a bit unusual, but it’s not like Souji can’t sympathize. “I’ve actually got a katana back home,” he says. In the TV world, actually, but Sho doesn’t need to know that. “Did you ever go to Daidara’s? He sells a lot of things like that. Even shields and these really cool clawed gloves.”

“Is that the guy who looks like me?” Sho says, eyebrows furling.

“Yeah, the other guy with red hair and a big X on his face,” Souji says. “His scar’s actually bigger than yours, though, and his hair’s a different shade. And you don’t really have any other facial similarities. Honestly, I’m not sure why people thought you were related.”

Sho snorts. “Having a big X on your face isn’t all that common,” he says wryly. “I’m not surprised people who don’t know me might think we’re connected.”

“Sometimes I think he uses it to cultivate a tough guy attitude,” Souji says. They’re well through the shopping district now, and getting closer to the rice fields. If he remembers right, the apartments are a long way down from here, but not across the fields themselves; they’ll have to walk alongside them. “Other times, though, I think he doesn’t actually like it. He’s always talking about how he’s an artist. It’s hard to make people see you as an artist with a face like that.”

“People do kinda get the one impression,” Sho says. “You know a lot of people think I’m yakuza or some shit, right?”

“I’ve heard it around town,” Souji says. “I’m never sure if I should correct them or not. I mean, you haven’t actually _told_ me you aren’t…”

Sho laughs, which marks the fourth time Souji’s ever seen him do so, and two of those were bitter. “No, I’m not with the yakuza or those motorcycle gangs or anything like that. I’m just one guy. Well...anyway. If you hear anyone saying that stuff, go ahead and tell them the truth. Doesn’t really bother me, but I bet it kinda bothers you, right?”

Frankly, Souji’s impressed Sho could pick that up. “It does, a bit,” he says. “I don’t like seeing people badmouth my friends.”

Sho cracks a smile. “Does it happen a lot?”

Souji nods. “Some of my friends aren’t all that popular,” he says. “Or just easy to misunderstand. I like Inaba, but I’ve had to field plenty of gossip. Small towns aren’t always the best places for people who stand out.”

“There aren’t a lot of places for people who stand out, period,” Sho says, staring out ahead of them. “This world’s a shitty place for anyone who doesn’t fit that stupid mold of perfect manners and acting the same as everyone else and doing whatever your bosses tell you.” His eyes narrow. “I’ve had enough of doing what people tell me.”

Souji carefully steps away from that chasm. “I can see why you might think that,” he says. “Like I said, some of my friends have to deal with it too. But they’re finding it a lot easier than they used to, and that’s because, well, they’re friends now. They have people they can talk to. The world isn’t so bad if you build connections to people who have to deal with it too, and who knows? Maybe those connections can help change things. Even if only a little.”

Sho exhales, long and low. “Easy for you to say,” he says. “You’re good at that stuff. Not everyone’s so lucky.”

The dusting of snow on the rice fields isn’t as heavy as it is for the rest of the town, but it’s still another layer of white around them. White, quiet, with only a few people in the distance; it’s almost as if they’re the only people in the world.

“Everything takes practice,” Souji says. “When I first met you, you barely talked at all. Now you’re inviting someone to your home and talking about your feelings. Progress, right?”

Sho gives him a death glare. “I am _not_ ‘talking about my feelings’,” he says. 

Souji tries not to grin too widely. “Close enough,” he says. “At any rate, you’re saying more about yourself than you used to. That’s a good start. Who knows, maybe eventually you’ll graduate to talking to people _besides_ me.”

“Maybe.”

The walk to the apartment block is, indeed, on the long side, and rather cold, but Souji keeps up the conversation. It’s not often he has to talk so much instead of listening. He rather likes the challenge.

Once they finally arrive, Souji looks around the set of buildings. Tall, concrete affairs, with bands of walkways along the floors; he’s seen plenty of them before, in other cities, but they stand out a little in this remote region. Most people have houses, even if they’re small. But he guesses there are probably more than a few people living on their own, even out here.

Sho gestures to one in the middle. “C’mon,” he says. “This one’s mine.”

They trudge up the stairs together, leaving faint trails of snow from their footprints that soon peter out. Sho leads him to a completely innocuous door, sets down one of his grocery bags, and puts his hand in his pocket to pull out a lone key. He unlocks the door, letting it swing open while he picks up his groceries again.

Souji sort of expected it to be a mess. And it’s not exactly spic-and-span, true, but there aren’t any clothes lying anywhere or obvious stains or piles of empty plastic bowls. There are enough furnishings to make it seem normal--a couch, a TV, a mostly-empty bookshelf, a low table with two cushions, a kitchen area, two doors that presumably lead to a bedroom and a bathroom; but also, somewhat alarmingly, a pair of sheathed katanas leaning against a wall, next to a severely-damaged straw dummy. He wonders what else the other rooms _actually_ hold.

Sho puts his groceries down on the kitchen counter. “I bet I can figure what you’re looking at,” he says wryly.

“It is a little…uncommon,” Souji says. “But you did say you like swords, so I guess it makes sense for you to have something to use them on? Something safe, I mean.”

There’s that look again, like Sho’s trying not to laugh. “Yeah, well,” he says. “Good for letting off steam.”

At least it’s pretty far from the TV. But Souji notices some razor-thin slash marks on the back of the couch, and, on a closer inspection, the walls seem freshly-spackled. He has a pretty good idea of how Sho lets off steam, now.

Sho pulls down his hood, though he leaves the rest of the hoodie on. “Go ahead and sit down, I’ll get some tea,” he says. Souji dutifully sits on one of the cushions by the table. The idea of Sho making tea seems strangely surreal. But it’s a common thing to do, isn’t it? It’d probably be stranger if he _didn’t_ know how to make tea.

He watches Sho in the kitchen. Sho puts the food away in a hurry, but not haphazardly; his movements are as quick and precise as they were months ago when he was helping to make dinner. If nothing else, Sho’s efficient.

Sho’s just as efficient putting together all the equipment; pretty soon, the water’s boiling and the teapot’s all set up with a strainer of surprisingly carefully-measured tea leaves. Or maybe not surprisingly; maybe Souji should stop being surprised that Sho’s a functional human being at this point.

“I didn’t take you for much of a tea drinker,” Souji says, watching Sho lean against the counter while the water boils. “At least, I don’t think I’ve seen you buy any.”

“I don’t drink a lot of it,” Sho says. He keeps a careful eye on the kettle. “The apartment came with some, though, so I figured I might as well try.”

“The apartment came with it?” Souji asks, blinking. “Like, as a moving-in gift or something?”

“Or something,” Sho says. He hesitates, just a little, before saying, “The hospital set this place up for me. I didn’t really have anything, so some of this stuff was already here.”

The hospital, again. Sho brought it up willingly, so…“I didn’t know hospitals bought apartments for people,” Souji says.

“They don’t, usually,” Sho says. “But I have a lot of money, so they just used that. I’m kind of a special case.”

“That’s the impression I’m getting,” Souji says. How much is it safe to ask? “Were you in the hospital for a while?”

The kettle starts whistling. Sho takes it off the stove and turns off the heat, bringing the kettle over to the teapot and pouring the water into the strainer. “A year,” he says. His voice is casual, but his face is a little tight; maybe it’s hard for him to talk about it.

“A _year?”_ Souji asks in disbelief. Sho looks perfectly healthy to him, although it occurs to him that that’s what a hospital stay is supposed to result in.

“Two years, actually,” Sho says. He brings over the teapot and a couple mugs, and sets them all down on the table. He sits on the cushion opposite Souji. “I was only awake for one of them, though.”

“So you were in a _coma_ for a year, too?” It’s almost like a TV drama; Souji’s never known anyone like that before. Nanako…well, Nanako was only asleep for a month. Not a _year._

“That’s what they tell me.” Steam rises from the teapot while it infuses.

“What happened? I mean, if you want to tell me.” Souji isn’t sure how far to press his luck.

Sho looks down at the table. “I don’t think I’m up for that one yet,” he says.

“All right. So that’s how you know Sayoko, then?”

Sho looks back up. “Sayo--oh, Uehara, right. Yeah. She was one of my nurses.”

“Believe it or not, she’s left the hospital.” Sho gives him a questioning look. “No, really. She wanted to remind herself of why she became a nurse, and she decided she couldn’t do it there.” Souji shrugs. “She seemed happy when she told me, anyway. I think it was probably the best choice for her.”

“Well, good for her, I guess,” Sho says. “She was all right. Nosy, but she was good at her job.” He smiles, just a little.

“So…” Souji hesitates. “There’s a lot of stuff I could ask you,” he says carefully. “But I don’t want you to feel forced to answer any of it. Is that okay?”

“I’m not gonna fall apart ’cause you asked me a question,” Sho says. He leans forward and rests his chin on his hands. “Try me.”

“Okay.” Souji flips through all the questions in his head, and starts out with, “How old are you?”

Sho smirks. “That’s your difficult question? Probably the same age as you.”

“Probably?” Souji seizes on that, though it might not mean anything.

“Well, how old are you, anyway?”

“Seventeen.” Barely.

“Yeah, same age as you.” So it probably didn’t mean anything. “Next question.”

All right then, a bigger one; Souji braces for whatever will happen. “Why don’t you go to school?”

“…tea’s ready.”

Souji knows deflection when he sees it, but it _has_ been about the right amount of time for the tea to finish infusing. He waits while Sho pours it into the two mugs, and takes the one offered to him. Just holding it is enough to combat the chill from outside. He takes a sip--it’s good.

He says as such. “It’s nice to have something warm in this weather,” Souji says. “My uncle’s been making a lot of coffee lately for me and Nanako. Honestly, half the warmth comes from knowing that someone made it for you.”

Sho points at him, eyes slightly narrowed. “If you think you’re going to try to get me to sob about being lonely or some shit like that, you’re outta luck.”

“Worth a try,” Souji says, shrugging. Not that he really expected much in the way of sobbing. He takes another sip. “So. School?”

Sho exhales and holds onto his mug. “I didn’t go to school when I was a kid,” he says. “I’ve been catching up on stuff, but there’s still a lot I don’t know, and I’d just get frustrated if I had to deal with a bunch of morons laughing at me about it. And I’m not good at dealing with frustration.”

Souji briefly glances at the hacked-up practice dummy and the freshly-spackled walls, and gets the picture.

“What’d you do when you were a kid, if you didn’t go to school?”

Sho shakes his head. No go. All right.

“This friend of yours. Is he from Inaba?”

Sho shakes his head again, but not in an ‘access denied’ way. “No, he’s not from around here,” he says. Souji can tell he’s trying to hold back a smirk.

“Is he the same as you? Didn’t go to school?”

“…basically,” Sho says, nodding. “He knows more stuff than I do, though.”

Souji’s tempted to ask where the friend is now, but he has the feeling he’ll just get another headshake. 

Sho takes a sip of tea. “Okay, question for _you,”_ he says, pointing at Souji again. “Why’d you keep talking to me? I wasn’t exactly receptive at first.”

“I told you, didn’t I? I wanted to know you better.” It’s Souji’s turn to dodge specifics now. He can’t exactly tell Sho about the Velvet Room. And besides, he _did_ want to know Sho better. Still does.

“Yeah, but why _me?_ I was just some guy. I only even showed up like once a month. We only ever met on accident.”

Souji’s not so sure about that. He wouldn’t put it past the Velvet Room to create situations where he just happened to need to go to the shopping district every time Sho was there. Some of the Social Links are very…tidy.

“That was all I needed,” Souji says. “I like making friends, and I like helping people, and it seemed pretty obvious you needed some of that.”

Sho scowls at him. “I was doing just fine on my own,” he says, his voice snippy.

“You literally ran away from me when I said I liked you,” Souji points out.

“That was--! …yeah, okay, point,” Sho says. He still glares at him. “I’m just not used to that stuff, okay?”

“I never would’ve guessed,” Souji says drily.

Souji mulls over what to ask Sho next. How many mysteries are there? Where Sho came from, why he lives alone, why he was in the hospital, how he met his friend…in all honesty, it’s the last one that Souji’s most curious about; he’s seen more than enough evidence of Sho’s difficulty with social interaction. Either the friend’s even more persistent than Souji is, or there’s more to Sho than Souji knows. Which, honestly, is definitely the case.

“I want to ask about your friend, but I’m not sure what kind of questions you’ll answer,” Souji says, getting right to the point. 

Sho raises an eyebrow. “You’re learning,” he says.

“I just want to know what kind of person he is,” Souji says. “You don’t really seem like you’re good at making friends, so he must be something special, right?”

“…yeah,” Sho says. “He is.”

Souji waits for Sho to elaborate, but he doesn’t seem up for it.

“You know, it actually took a while for him to like you,” Sho says instead, a faintly amused look on his face.

Souji feels deeply alarmed. _Everyone_ likes him. Everyone in Inaba, anyway. “What’d you tell him about me?” he asks. “Nothing too bad, right?” Maybe Sho’s friend didn’t like hearing about some random stranger bothering him.

“He’s not a people person,” Sho says. “I mean, he’s better with them than I am, but he doesn’t really like dealing with them. So you trying to be my friend and all, that was…well, he wasn’t happy about it. He said I should just ignore you whenever you tried talking to me. But…I dunno.” Sho shrugs. “I was bored. I figured if you ever got too annoying, I could just tell you to buzz off.”

“You didn’t, though,” Souji says with a smile.

“Yeah, well. Bored.” Sho’s eyes turn away from Souji’s face for a few moments. Souji isn’t sure Sho’s actually capable of blushing.

“Eventually, he figured out I sorta didn’t mind talking to you, and that calmed him down a little. He doesn’t like it when I’m bored either.” Sho gives a wry smile. “He wasn’t big on the idea of you visiting, but I got him to come around.”

“Well, I’m glad you did,” Souji says. “And just in time, too--I’m leaving next month. My year’s up.”

Sho holds onto his cup and watches Souji carefully. “You gonna miss this place?” he asks.

“Definitely,” Souji says, nodding. “I’ve made so many friends here, and to be honest, I have more good memories from Inaba than I have from anywhere else I’ve lived. It might not seem like much, but to me, Inaba is home.”

Sho doesn’t say anything for a few moments. “I’m gonna leave soon too, actually,” he says. “I know I just got started getting used to this place, but there’s someone I want to meet, and she’s not here.”

“Oh yeah? Where is she?” Souji’s definitely curious about Sho wanting to connect with someone else; it’s the best he could have hoped for, really.

“Tatsumi Port Island, probably,” Sho says. “I don’t know for sure. But that’s where I’ll start looking.” He doesn’t divulge details about the person. Souji figures he probably doesn’t want to.

“I hope you find her,” Souji says. “I went to Tatsumi Port Island once. It was…well, I probably didn’t see it at its best.” The school was nice, though.

“Thanks,” Sho says. “I gotta have someone to talk to once you’re gone, right?” He gives another wry smile.

“You’ll do fine,” Souji says firmly. “If you can go shopping during the day, you can talk to people besides me. I know you can.”

“Maybe.”

The conversation proceeds for a while, the tea growing cold while they talk. Nothing else major is said, but then, a normal conversation is a step forward too, and Souji’s perfectly happy to just spend time with Sho while they’re both sitting down and not standing by the street.

Eventually, though, it does start getting late. “I should be getting home,” Souji says. “Nanako will probably end up just eating instant ramen if I leave Dojima in charge of dinner.”

“Such a diligent brother,” Sho says, but he only sounds a little sarcastic.

They both stand up. Souji’s halfway to the door before Sho says, “Wait, hold up,” and moves to grab the swords from the opposite wall. He holds them out to Souji.

“I got others I can use,” Sho says. “You said you have a katana, right? You should try fighting with two. It’s a lot more fun.”

Souji’s never actually thought of swords as fun, but he’s not so impolite to criticize a gift, and besides, the swords do look to be of good make. He takes them and bows his head. “Thank you,” he says. “I’ll take good care of them.”

And finally, the extra-large burst he was waiting for, the final one from his final link.

_Thou art I…and I art thou…  
Thou hast established a genuine bond…_

_These genuine bonds…shall be your way to see the truth._

_We bestow upon thee the ability to create Asura and Sandalphon, the ultimate forms of the Sun and Moon Arcana…_

Two cards, glimmering blue one last time before vanishing into his soul. Souji _still_ doesn’t know why Sho has two, and at this point isn’t sure he’ll ever know; Igor will probably just be enigmatic again the next time he asks. But it does mean he’s finished two Arcana at once now, and even stronger for it. He can feel Asura and Sandalphon’s presences lurking in the back of his mind, waiting to be made whole.

Saying goodbye to Sho doesn’t feel bittersweet. Just happy, and with the knowledge that Souji’s done some good in the world, and who knows? Tatsumi Port Island isn’t that far away. Maybe he can visit when he comes back in the summer.

After dinner, Souji spends a solid hour with the cat by the garage, and it even deigns to purr.

\---

The fog drifting through his mind is lifting, slowly, each voice bringing him just a little more consciousness. And there are so many voices. His team, his friends, people around town, so many people he knew…

…a figure in a hooded sweatshirt, hood down…

…but no, are there two? An echo at his side, transparent, with an unknowable expression. Somehow, it doesn’t seem so strange. Just another figure, just another voice.

“Seriously?” asks Sho, hands in his pockets, one eyebrow raised in disbelief. “You just gonna lie there? After all you’ve done, you’re just gonna give up?”

The other one speaks, in a familiar, lower voice. “Even in the fog, you did not falter,” he says. “Will you throw away your hope so easily? You were so passionate about it back then. It seems rather unlike you to abandon it now.”

“C’mon, get up and do your thing,” Sho says. “You’ve still got shit to do. Hell, you got me to talk to you, didn’t you? This shit is nothing.”

“Stand,” the other one says. “You did not fall to the fog then. You will not fall to it now.”

The figures fade, and Souji’s consciousness continues to rise.

The fog seems a little lighter, now.

\---

Some time later.

A being rises, inhuman, soulless, but still formless, and speaks, its voice resounding within the mind of its target. _**This world has been unkind to you,**_ it says. **_Humans are cruel, heartless--_**

“Shut up, I’m packing.”

**_But I offer you--_ **

“Minazuki, tell that thing to go away.”

**_I--_ **

_Go away._

And the being crumbles back into the abyss, lacking a foothold.

And that’s the end of that.


End file.
